Information and inspections of institutions, providers of ancillary services, financial holding companies, mixed financial holding companies, and other undertakings

(1) An institution or a superordinate undertaking, the members of its governing bodies, and its employees must, on request, provide the Federal Institute, the persons and bodies that the Federal Institute uses in performing its tasks, and the Deutsche Bundesbank with information on all business matters, submit documents, and make copies where necessary; this also applies to outsourcing undertakings, to the members of their governing bodies, and to their employees, insofar as activities and processes are affected that an institution or superordinate undertaking has outsourced. Members of a governing body and employees of the institutions, superordinate undertakings, or outsourcing undertakings must, on request, provide information and submit documents even after leaving the governing body, the institution, or the undertaking. The Federal Institute may, even without particular cause, carry out inspections at the institutions, superordinate undertakings, and outsourcing undertakings, insofar as an institution or superordinate undertaking has outsourced material activities and processes within the meaning of section 25b(1), first sentence, or it is a case of outsourcing under section 25h(4) or a transfer under section 6(7) or section 17(1) or (5) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, and may assign the conduct of the inspections to the Deutsche Bundesbank. For this purpose, the staff of the Federal Institute and of the Deutsche Bundesbank, and the other persons that the Federal Institute uses in conducting the inspections, may enter and inspect the premises of the institution, the outsourcing undertaking, and the superordinate undertaking within the usual operating and business hours. To avert imminent dangers to public safety, they are authorised to enter and inspect these premises also outside the usual operating and business hours, and also to enter and inspect premises that also serve as a dwelling; the fundamental right to the inviolability of the home (Article 13(1) of the Basic Law) is restricted to that extent. The persons affected must tolerate measures under the third to fifth sentences. Information must, at the request of the Federal Institute or the Deutsche Bundesbank, also be provided orally.
(1a) Insofar as a central counterparty, under the conditions of Article 35(1) of Regulation (EU) No 648/2012, outsources operational functions, services, or activities to an undertaking, the Federal Institute's powers under subsection (1), third to fifth sentences, also apply correspondingly to this undertaking and to the members of its governing bodies, its employees, and its outsourcing undertakings; subsection (1), sixth sentence, applies correspondingly.
(1b) Originators and original lenders, insofar as they are not institutions, and securitisation special purpose entities and third parties authorised under Article 28(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2402, must provide the Federal Institute with information in accordance with subsections (1) and (6). The Federal Institute correspondingly has the inspection powers named in subsection (1).
(2) A subordinate undertaking within the meaning of section 10a, a financial holding company, a mixed financial holding company, or a mixed holding company, and a member of a governing body of such an undertaking, must, on request, provide the Federal Institute, the persons and bodies that the Federal Institute uses in performing its tasks, and the Deutsche Bundesbank with information, submit documents, and make copies where necessary; members of a governing body and employees must, on request, provide information and submit documents even after leaving the governing body or the undertaking. The Federal Institute may, even without particular cause, carry out inspections at the undertakings named in the first sentence, and may assign the conduct of the inspections to the Deutsche Bundesbank; subsection (1), second sentence, second half-sentence, applies correspondingly. For this purpose, the staff of the Federal Institute and of the Deutsche Bundesbank, and the other persons that the Federal Institute uses in conducting the inspections, may enter and inspect the undertakings' premises within the usual operating and business hours. To avert imminent dangers to public safety, they are authorised to enter and inspect these premises also outside the usual operating and business hours, and also to enter and inspect premises that also serve as a dwelling; the fundamental right to the inviolability of the home (Article 13(1) of the Basic Law) is restricted to that extent. The persons affected must tolerate measures under the second to fourth sentences. The first to fifth sentences apply correspondingly 1. to subsidiary undertakings not included in the consolidation, 2. to a mixed holding company and its subsidiary undertakings, and 3. to third parties, to the members of their governing bodies, and to their employees, insofar as activities and processes are affected that an undertaking named in point 2 or in the first sentence has outsourced to such third parties.
(2a) Where the Federal Institute, in supervising an institutional group, financial holding group, mixed financial holding group, or mixed holding group, needs information that is already available to another competent body, it directs its request for information to that competent body first. In supervising institutions that are subordinate to an EU parent institution under section 10a, the Federal Institute, as a rule, directs requests for information concerning the implementation of the approaches and methods under Directive 2013/36/EU to the body responsible for supervision on a consolidated basis first.
(3) Undertakings included in the consolidation that have their registered office abroad must, on request, permit the Federal Institute to conduct the inspections permissible under this Act, in particular the verification of the accuracy of the data transmitted for the consolidation under section 10a(4) to (7), section 25(2) and (3), and Articles 11 to 17 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, as amended from time to time, insofar as this is necessary for the Federal Institute to perform its tasks and permissible under the law of the other state. This also applies to subsidiary undertakings with their registered office abroad that are not included in the consolidation.
(3a) (repealed)
(4) The Federal Institute may send representatives to the general meetings, general assemblies, or shareholders' meetings, and to the meetings of the supervisory bodies, of institutions, financial holding companies, or mixed financial holding companies in the legal form of a legal person. These representatives may speak at the meeting. In the case of a virtual general meeting under section 118a of the Stock Corporation Act, the representatives are to be connected to the meeting by way of video communication and may speak by way of the video communication. Statements submitted under section 130a(1) and (2) of the Stock Corporation Act, questions submitted under section 131(1a) and (1b) of the Stock Corporation Act, and the answers given to these questions before the meeting, are to be made accessible to the representatives. The representatives may, instead of being connected by way of video communication, attend in person at the place of the general meeting, insofar as they consider this necessary. The persons affected must tolerate measures under the first to fifth sentences.
(5) The staff of the Federal Institute and of the Deutsche Bundesbank may search the premises of the undertakings obliged to provide information and submit documents under subsection (1), first sentence, first half-sentence, and of members of their governing bodies, even after they have left, where facts justify the assumption that the undertaking or the governing-body member is impairing, endangering, or delaying, contrary to a provision of this Act or an enforceable individual-case order based on this Act, the clarification of facts material to a decision for supervision under this Act, by 1. not providing particulars, or providing them incorrectly, incompletely, or not in time, or 2. not submitting documents, or submitting them incorrectly, incompletely, or not in time. The searches must be ordered by the judge, except where there is danger in delay. Where there is danger in delay, the Federal Institute's operational management may make the order, insofar as only an insignificant delay is not to be expected. Searches of premises serving as a dwelling must always be ordered by the judge. The fundamental right to the inviolability of the home (Article 13(1) of the Basic Law) is restricted to that extent. The local court in whose district the premises are located has jurisdiction. An appeal against the judicial decision is admissible; sections 306 to 310 and 311a of the Code of Criminal Procedure apply correspondingly. A record must be made of the search. It must state the responsible office, the reason, time, and place of the search and its outcome, and, where no judicial order was made, also the facts that gave rise to the assumption of danger in delay. The persons affected must tolerate measures under the first sentence.
(6) The staff of the Federal Institute and of the Deutsche Bundesbank may seize objects that may be significant as evidence for establishing the facts. Where the objects are no longer needed for the administrative procedure, they are returned to the last person who held custody of them. The persons affected must tolerate measures under the first sentence.
(7) The institutions, financial holding companies, and mixed financial holding companies in the legal form of a legal person must, at the Federal Institute's request, convene the meetings designated in subsection (4), first sentence, schedule meetings of the administrative and supervisory bodies, and announce items for resolution. The Federal Institute may send representatives to a meeting scheduled under the first sentence. These representatives may speak at the meeting. Subsection (4), third to fifth sentences, applies correspondingly. The persons affected must tolerate measures under the second to fourth sentences. Subsection (4) remains unaffected.
(8) The Federal Institute and the Deutsche Bundesbank may, for requests for information and submission of documents under this provision, require electronic submission. They may lay down more detailed provisions on the manner and form of the transmission.
(9) A person obliged to provide information may refuse to answer questions whose answering would expose that person, or a relative designated in section 383(1), points 1 to 3, of the Code of Civil Procedure, to the risk of criminal prosecution or of proceedings under the Act on Regulatory Offences.